The Past

The first story takes place in NYC, around the early '90's. I worked for a photographer in Carnegie Hall. Right next door, there was a large skyscraper going up. Our landlord came to the door and said, "Stay away from the skylights." We were confused, so followed the elevator man to the main street. We looked up in the sky to see what looked like popsicle sticks fluttering off the new skyscraper. As they got closer, we realized they were not popsicle sticks. They were huge pieces of timber that crashed onto the street. When they hit the ground, they exploded. Some went through windows. It was pretty dramatic. And, no, none of them went through our skylights.

When I was a photographer in the '90's, I often took TWA flight 800 to Paris. The flight, one night, fell out of the sky. The main fuel tank burst into flames and fell out of the sky. Weeks later, I was in the Hamptons taking my friend's sea kayak out. A police military humvee pulled up and asked me to go out towards the horizon and collect some burnt clothing. I freaked out and thought, "I hope there's no body in that clothing." As I got closer, I realized, it was just a hat. I retrieved it, went back to shore. I gave it to these huge marines and told them there was sea lice in it. They jumped around like a bunch of ten year old girls, and threw the hat in the back of their vehicle. They drove off.

Another thing that fell out of the sky I don't talk about much. Yes, I dropped an 85 mm / 1.4 lens (very expensive lens) out of a helicopter and into the Grand Canyon. Not my finest moment.

One positive thing that fell out of the sky was pretty cool. I told you about it already, but I was location scouting out west. I looked up and there was a huge bald eagle nest above me. There were a bunch of babies in the nest. Then a single feather came spiraling down and landed right at my feet. Luckily none of the parents were around. That was a pretty cool moment.

That's all for now. Check out my other blog where I talk about the present. Have a good week. Love, B. Nice